Prof. Dr Katharina Al-Shamery has been a university lecturer in physical chemistry at the University of Oldenburg since 1999 and heads the Nanophotonics and Surface Chemistry research group. After studying chemistry in Göttingen and Paris, she completed her PhD in Zurich and habilitated at Ruhr-Universität Bochum following a postdoctoral research stay at the University of Oxford in England. Al-Shamery led a research group at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin for two years and then became a professor of physical chemistry at Ulm University. After joining the University of Oldenburg, she served as its Vice President for Research from 2010 to 2014 and was also University President on an interim basis for 18 months from 2014. The award-winning scientist performs numerous functions and occupies various posts. Her expertise is in high demand both nationally and internationally, for example at the German Research Foundation and the European Research Council. She has been a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina for ten years.